Channel Islands Condors fly from home field in Camarillo

DAVID YAMAMOTO/SPECIAL TO THE STAR
Charles Lewis (left) checks the throttle on his plane as pit crew member Jacob Schlaberg assists before Lewis’ flight Saturday during an aerobatic competition hosted by the Channel Island Condors at CSUCI in Camarillo.

The Channel Islands Condors on Saturday came back to their ancestral home in the field just northwest of CSU Channel Islands — at least temporarily.

Gliding not on the wind but on gas-powered two-stroke engines, the scale aircraft club lost access to the runway and flight area last year. But a deal recently struck between the group and university officials allowed for an annual flying competition to return to Camarillo.

The Red Shoes Classic, as the competition is known, is in its 10th year and part of the International Miniature Aircraft Club's event series, pitting scale aircraft pilots from the southwestern U.S. against one another in various events.

The event gets its name from Condors member Frank Oliver's colorful red "pilot shoes" he began wearing after seeing an aerobatic pilot at Camarillo Airport with them years ago.

"I love to fly these planes and be challenged by it all," said Oliver, of Camarillo. "It's the most entertaining thing, and there are so many levels and challenges to it."

Oliver flies a 40 percent scale of a Sukhoi aerobatic aircraft. Scale aircraft pilots don't like to use the term "model" aircraft and quickly make that known.

The Condors had been flying at the field, off Camarillo Road near the entrance to University Glen, since 1985. CSUCI acquired the land from the county in 2009. Last year, university officials barred the group from the field after an aircraft crash caused a small brush fire.

The 2012 Red Shoes Competition was hastily moved to Bakersfield.

"If we didn't come back here, we were in danger of losing our sanction from the (Academy of Model Aeronautics) to run this competition," said Mark Penikas, president of the Condors. "We worked really well with the university, and we were permitted to run this year."

Penikas said that though the competition, featuring 35 pilots from the western U.S., was allowed to run, the field is still closed to the club until university and Condors officials work out details for a possible reopening.

Brian Kelley, of Lodi, finished flying his routine in the basic category Sunday and was happy with his performance.

"It's the only time in my world where I totally focus and lock out everything else. I'm not thinking about work tomorrow or where my kids are. I'm just flying the plane, concentrating on what I'm doing and making it flow."

Kelley flew a red, white and blue 40 percent scale trainer.

Richard Hodgson, Condors secretary, said pilots in the competition fly in five categories: basic, sportsman, intermediate, advanced and unlimited. Each has different degrees of aerobatic difficulty.

"The pilot doesn't work alone," Hodgson said. "He has a caller with him or her, and that person has a chart called an aresti that tells the pilot what maneuvers they're going to perform."

Hodgson said one routine is called "unknown," and the pilot must perform what he is told, not what he has seen on the chart. "They have to run the routine without practice. That's pretty hard."

Two judges, both scale aircraft pilots, score the routines while scribes write down comments and scores so judges don't have to take their eyes off the planes.